Lula's Party Takes Complaint Over Meta "Interference" to the OAS
The Workers' Party of Brazilian President Lula da Silva will file a complaint with the Organization of American States accusing US company Meta of interfering in the presidential election. Meta denies the allegations.
The left-wing Workers' Party of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will file a complaint with the Organization of American States (OAS), a regional association of countries, against the US technology company Meta. The party accuses Meta of interfering in Brazil's presidential election, Lula's campaign said on Wednesday. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, denies the claim.
The electoral context
Lula is seeking a fourth term in office. In the presidential runoff on 25 October he will face right-wing candidate Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro. In the first round on 4 October, Bolsonaro won 47% of the vote and Lula 45%.
The allegations
The Workers' Party says Meta is harming Lula's campaign by restricting his content on online platforms. The campaign states that in recent days the company did not allow the president's profile to promote Instagram timeline posts, and that a post from his official account suffered an interruption in view counting that affected its reach. It also says that before the first round the profiles of Lula and other left-wing leaders suddenly disappeared from Instagram's search function.
"It is time to denounce [Meta] before the international community, starting with the OAS," party communications secretary Edén Valadares told reporters. He added that Lula himself had instructed the party to take this step.
Meta's Brazilian office rejected the accusations, calling them "simply false" and "not supported by the facts".
Next steps
The campaign said a meeting with international election observers is planned for Thursday to discuss the alleged interference. Lula has also claimed that the United States is trying to interfere in the election in favour of Bolsonaro, whose father is an ally of US President Donald Trump.
Lula, who does not use a mobile phone, launched a social media campaign after the first round, including videos in which he addresses his online followers.
